ICC anti-corruption unit ban Sanath Jayasuriya for two years

It was last October in 2018, when the former opener was charged by the ACU for disobeying the ICC anti-corruption code on two occasions. Firstly, the 1996 World Cup winner had refused to cooperate with the investigative unit, which includes obstructing or delaying the process and even including concealing, tampering with or obliterating any documentation, or information that might have been relevant.

Secondly, Jayasuriya also refused hand over his mobile phones during the investigation, which the ACU had specifically asked him to do. After the ACU charged him, the former player released a public statement saying that always conducted himself with "transparency and integrity" and that he wasn’t involved in any "corrupt activity" including "match-fixing, pitch-fixing".

Jayasuriya would be out for two years from any cricket-related activity by with immediate effect. The charge came after a one-year long investigation in Sri Lanka where ACU had stated that corruption had seeped deep into the system. ACU's general manager Alex Marshall told ESPNcricinfo that the detailed investigation was an attempt to break the corruption cycle that engulfed Sri Lanka cricket.